Anti-slip surfaced article

ABSTRACT

AN ARTICLE HAVING AN ANTI-SLIP SURFACE IN THE FORM OF A HARDENED FILM HAVING INDIVIDUAL ANTI-SKID ISLANDS RAISED ABOVE THE SUPERFICIAL SURFACE OF THE FILM. THE ISLANDS ARE FORMED OF ONE OR MORE SMOOTH-SURFACED, SOLID SPHERES, SUCH AS GLASS BEADS, OF DIAMETER GREATER THAN THE THICKNESS OF THE FILM, THE SPHERES BEING BOTTOMED ON THE ARTICLE AND FIRMLY ANCHORED, BUT NOT COVERED BY THE SURROUNDING PORTIONS OF THE FILM.

y 11, 1972- E. GRIFFIN ANTI-SLIP SURFACED ARTICLE Filed Feb. 14, 1969 INVENTOR.

E. GRIFFIN ATTORNEYS United States Patent US. Cl. 117-161 ZB 3 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE An article having an anti-slip surface in the form of a hardened film having individual anti-skid islands raised above the superficial surface of the film. The islands are formed of one or more smooth-surfaced, solid spheres, such as glass beads, of diameter greater than the thickness of the film, the spheres being bottomed on the article and firmly anchored, but not covered by the surrounding portions of the film.

This application is a continuation-in-part of copending application Ser. No. 415,360, filed Dec. 2, 1964, now abandoned.

This invention relates to articles, such as tool handles, hair curlers, hair pins and bobby pins, steps, floors, walkways, roadways, swimming pool bottoms, etc., which are specially treated to provide anti-slip surface areas.

In the making of the invention, a principal object was to easily and economically provide a new and improved anti-slip surface in connection with such an article, which will not cause discomfort to the user nor excessive wear on contacting agencies, such as shoes, clothing, etc., which can be applied at any time, either by the manufacturer of the article or by the user, and which, as applied to roadways, will normally be surface-concealing and non-reflective.

This object has been achieved by coating the particular surface or surfaces of the article concerned with a tightly adherent, pigmented, non-reflective, film-forming material of low viscosity containing a quantity of miniscule, solid spheres, such as closely-sized glass beads. The resulting surface area of the article is covered by a hardened, surface-concealing, non-reflective, anti-slip film having a thickness of about 0.3 to 5 mils and presenting numerous anti-skid islands rising superficially therefrom and separated from one another by relatively depressed expanses of the film.

The sphere or spheres forming each island are firmly embedded in the film, which rises in cove formation to their crowns and both anchors and buttresses them against dislodgment. For the most part, the spheres are bottomed on the film-supporting surface of the article.

The combination of the islands with the intervening expanses of film, depressed below island level as they are, provide for frictional effect on yieldable agencies, such as a persons fingers, feet, or hair, shoe leather or composition soles, garments, rubber tires, etc., not provided by the smooth and rounded surfaces of the beads themselves. Thus, effective anti-slip protection is provided, but without the usual harsh action of abrasives as customarily incorporated in coating compositions, pavements, stairway trends, roadways, etc., for a similar purpose.

Heretofore, glass beads have been incorporated in coating compositions applied to highways as light-reflective trafiic strips, and to guard rails and signs as light-reflective Warnings and worded instructions or advertisements. Various patents have been granted for such compositions and light-reflective surfaces, see for example the following: US. Pat. Nos. 2,268,537; 2,268,538; 2,897,733;

,7 3,676,208 Patented July 11, 1972 ice 2,952,192; 2,997,403; and 3,099,637. That the possibilities of the present invention have not been recognized, however, is well illustrated by the fact that a coarse grit is added to the glass-sphere-containing epoxy resin of Pat. No. 2,952,192 for the purpose of imparting anti-skid qualities to the highway marker stripes formed from the composition.

Further objects and features of the invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of the specific embodiment illustrated in the accompanying drawing, which represents what is presently regarded as the best mode of carrying out the invention in actual commercial practice.

. DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIG. 1 represents a plan view of a portion of a concrete walkway surfaced in accordance with the invention;

FIG. 2 a fragmentary portion of FIG. 1 magnified many times; and

FIG. 3, a vertical section taken on the line 3-3 of FIG. 2.

DESCRIPTION OF THE ILLUSTRATED EMBODIMENT The object or article to which the anti-slip surface is applied in the illustrated instance is a walkway 10 of a material having a smooth superficial surface 10a which tends to be slippery.

In accordance with the invention, such surface 10a is coated with an opaque and non-reflective epoxy type of resin composition in liquid form containing many miniscule, solid spheres, such as glass beads.

This type of resin and its manner of use are well known. There are various producers of epoxy resins, polyester resins having similar properties. I have found that the material Epocast 516, manufactured by Furane Plastics, Inc., Los Angeles, Calif, serves the purpose very well. It should be made up for application with sufficient thinner to give it a viscosity of about 70 to Krebs units for brush-on or roll-on application, or a viscosity of about 60 to 62 Krebs units for spray-on application. In general the manner of mixing the resin with a suitable catalyst and applying it is similar to what is explained in the afore-referred to Pat. No. 2,952,192, but the use of such resins is so wide-spread that no detailed instructions need be given here. A similar epoxy resin is Ceramikote 505 ava from Bennetts, Salt Lake City, Utah.

The coating when set and hard provides a film 11 of the resin, having a thickness of about 2 to 5 mils, which is extremely tough and durable and is tenaciously adherent to the surface 10a of the Walkway 10. Interspersed between expanese 12, FIG. 2, of such film 11 are individual islands 13 made up of at least one, and often of many, miniscule, smooth-surfaced, solid spheres 14 having respective diameters several times as great as the thickness of the film 11. Although such spheres can be of any suitable material having the properties of hardness and resistance to crushing, small glass spheres sold commercially as glass beads serve admirably for the purpose. They are readily available in various sizes and are low in cost, and, while not always exactly spherical in shape, are enough so to serve the purpose very well. The optimum size range for walkways and the like is from 40 to US. screen.

Due to the low viscosity of the epoxy resin vehicle, the spheres tend to bottom out on the surface to which applied and are therefore firmly anchored in the set and hardened coating material. Such material tends to cove around the lower portions of the spheres, see 15, FIG. 3, and to extend up to the crowns 14a of the spheres, thereby securely anchoring them in the film 11 and reinforcing them against breakage or loss, but, as indicated in FIG. 3,

not covering them. Thus, they protrude above the superficial surface a as shown.

Although epoxy-type resins are employed in many applications of the invention, it has been found desirable to utilize other types of film-forming materials having the necessary physical properties and characteristics enabling them to anchor the spheres and form coves around the lower portions of the spheres. For example, bobby-pins of standard types and the usual materials employed in bobby-pin construction can be manufactured using a thin coating of enamel, nylon, plastisols or other coatings normally used with bobby-pins as the film-forming material and glass beads of a very small screen. In most bobby-pins a fast-drying, industrial enamel or nylon film having a thickness of about 0.3 mil to 1.5 mil is preferred. The glass beads advantageously have a US. screen of approximately 10 to 400. The resulting bobby-pin has excellent non-slip properties without attendant damage to delicate hair which is normally found in bobby-pins having harsh abrasives on the surface.

It will be realized that the specific examples here shown merely exemplify application of the invention to a variety of surfaces and articles. They are representative of what is presently regarded as the best mode of carrying out the invention. Various changes may be made without departing from the inventive subject matter particularly pointed out and claimed herebelow.

I claim:

1. In combination,

a basic article presenting a substantially non-reflective surface subject to contact by a yieldable agency under circumstances where slippage is undesirable;

a hardened film of opaque and non-reflective epoxy resin composition having a thickness of about 0.3 to 5 mils, coating and adhering to said surface of the article; and

numerous, miniscule, smooth-surfaced, crush-resistant, solid spheres of diameter greater than the thickness of said film, said spheres being bottomed on said surface, firmly anchored by said film, and protruding above the superficial surface of said film as anti-skid islands surrounded by expanses of said film, portions of the film surrounding said spheres rising substantially to the exposed crowns of individual spheres in coved formation, thereby providing non-abrasive action having greater frictional effect on yieldable agencies than the smooth surface of the solid spheres alone.

2. A combination according to claim 1, wherein the spheres are glass beads.

3. A combination according to claim 1, wherein most of the anti-skid islands are formed by groups of spheres.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 276,558 5/1883 Brown 117-25 X 1,879,799 9/1932 Glaesel 117-26 2,143,946 1/1939 Hunter 117-33 2,267,995 12/1941 Shuger 117-25 X 2,268,538 12/1941 Rodli et al 117-25 X 2,294,930 9/ 1942 Palmquist 117-25 X 2,489,598 11/1949 Tick 132-502 2,531,024 11/1950 Bolinger 132-502 2,555,319 6/1951 Cross 117-33 X 2,574,971 11/1951 Heltzer 117-36 2,630,620 3/1953 Rand 117-161 X 2,706,936 4/1955 Willson 117-33 X 2,791,226 5/1957 Kurz 132-50 2,879,171 3/1959 Kullenberg -2 117-27 X 2,897,733 8/1959 Shuger 117-161 X 2,952,192 9/1960 Nagin 117-161 2,997,403 8/1961 Searight 117-161 X 3,099,637 7/1963 Nellessen 260-336 X 3,147,136 9/1964 Huttenbach et al. 117-26 X 3,171,827 3/1965 De Vries et al 117-33 X 2,268,537 12/1941 Shuger 117-25 X FOREIGN PATENTS 477,213 12/ 1937 Great Britain 94-5 WILLIAM D. MARTIN, Primary Examiner S. L. CHILDS, Assistant Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 117-161 P 

